(You guys can see that I now have 27 votes! That's amazing, and I am absolutely ecstatic! These votes are due to four engaged readers:
1. @KinNguyt0 voted again on the chapter "Some Training, A God Visits, All In All A Normal Day (Nico's Perspective). He or she has been my first two votes! Thank you again!
2. @richterwriter, who voted on the intro and commented that the story was really good (Thank you so much)! She or he's writing their own books, which are fantastic; I suggest you read them! They're very descriptive and creative, which is remarkable as English is he or she's second language.
3. @PJOHPfanDisha who voted on the previous chapter, "One Evil Grandpas, Two Evil Grandpas... Wait, That's All (Harry's Perspective)." Thank you for showing your support!
4. And last but definitely not least is @Demigod_in_disguise8! He or she has voted on literally every single chapter and has given me really high praise (which I'm sure is over-exaggerated lol). They've also followed me! This shows so much support and I just don't know how to thank them! Btw, they've also started their own novel which is also very detailed; another story I recommend!
Enjoy!)
"What do you think he wants from me?"
"For you to join him, obviously," Annabeth answered. She jabbed at my side, but I dodged. I feinted to the right and then attacked her left side, but she wasn't fooled. Her dagger met Riptide. The weapons trembled as we both tried to overpower each other. Annabeth was the first to make a move, sliding to the right and removing her dagger so that Riptide swept through empty air.
"Won't he-" I began, but we both froze as soon as we heard the footsteps. But they weren't footsteps. They fell slightly differently. The thing's gait was mismatched and heavy. Then we saw them. Hellhounds.
They weren't tame. Viciously growling, they scanned the area and tensed as their eyes fell upon us. They didn't hesitate; roaring in fury, they attacked. Seven sets of feet thumped the ground, running at us.
"I'll take the left!" I called, and Riptide slashed through the hellhound in the middle. That enraged the group even more. They all rushed at me, Annabeth following and stabbing a hellhound in the back.
"Or I'll take them all?" I reflected. They were all focused on me, and as I slashed, stabbed, and rolled, all that was left of the brutal dogs, in a few seconds, was gold dust littering the ground like a festive party. I blew some dust off Riptide.
"You didn't even leave any for me." Annabeth lunged at me with her dagger and we resumed our spar like nothing had happened.
"Hey, you two! Come inside!" I turned to find Leo calling to us, motioning for us to come. He disappeared back inside the castle.
"Alright then, we should-" I looked down at the dagger poised at my neck, my attacker hidden from behind. "Okay, that's not fair," I complained.
"It was fair and square, Seaweed Brain. You got distracted." Annabeth retorted. "You lose." She announced triumphantly. I sighed and nodded. The dagger was removed from my throat and we walked back to the castle, hand in hand.
"You think it could be Ares?" I asked, continuing our original conversation.
"Honestly, it might be. He got tricked and used by Kronos. He's impulsive and loves war. It's a high probability." Annabeth answered. "But then again, it's always the ones we don't expect."
"Yeah." I nodded.
"But we can't use that as a basis, so Ares is a valid suspect."
"And technically Zeus could be too," I added. Annabeth thought for a moment, then nodded in resignation.
"Yes. It could be him."
"Any chance it could be Hera?" I questioned, pulling open the double doors to Hogwarts. Annabeth shook her head.
"As annoying as she is, she's a good... well, she fights for the right cause." She paused. "Her tactics are horrible. But she keeps the Olympians together." She spat out the words disdainfully, as if they left a bitter taste in her mouth. "But what I'm most worried about is Zeus's absence. It's a great strategy to remove the leader. The possessed god has successfully thrown Mount Olympus into chaos. Assuming the possessed one isn't Zeus himself." Annabeth shuddered.
"But I think... I think we should be searching for the god who is behind all of this. Not the one who's possessed, because it's not really their fault. The one that abused their power to keep Riddle's soul in his body. He or she is technically the real perpetrator." Annabeth reasoned. Her voice trembled nervously, so very slightly, but I noticed.
"It'll be okay. Come on, we got this." I squeezed her hand. "We've always done it in the end." I looked her in the eye. Annabeth sighed.
"I suppose you're right."
"Actually?" I gasped theatrically.
"Don't get me wrong. It's a rare occasion, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth teased and elbowed me.
"Hey, did Leo say why we should be coming back inside?" Thalia spotted us and ran over.
"No. He told you to come inside too?" I asked. She nodded.
"Something about possession?" She said.
"Oh," I realized, "maybe they discovered something about the god?" We simultaneously broke into a jog excitedly.
"Giligus Vulgare." The the portrait of the fat lady swung open with a creak. We stepped inside.
"Maybe-" Thalia started, but a bloodcurdling scream from Nico's room caused us to look at each other in fright.
"Nico? Guys?" I banged on the door and I almost fell into Will as he opened the door from the inside. He motioned for us to come inside.
"What's wrong?"
"Piper's been possessed." Annabeth gasped, seeing Piper's eyes a bright gold hue. She was gagged and hog-tied to a chair. Hazel, Frank, and Leo all sported many bruises.
"It took a while to do that." Leo gestured to Piper's restricted state. "Her charmspeak was especially hard to combat. Try gagging someone when they make you go bash your head in the wall. It's hard."
"How'd you do it?" Thalia asked, hands on her hip.
"Hazel managed to sneak up behind her and knock her out cold, though she woke up about a few moments ago." Frank glanced at his girlfriend with pride. Piper struggled.
"Mmmmpf!" She complained.
"We can't even ungag her to ask the eidolon questions because she'll charmspeak us," Hazel explained, observing Piper sympathetically. Piper struggled some more; the chair shook. I was scared it might break.
Suddenly, the gold left Piper's eyes. Frank stiffened. We didn't have to look at his eyes or hear his voice to know that he was possessed. He turned.
"You-"
"Eidolon, leave us. Never bother us again. Don't come near us, don't possess us, don't chase us. Don't ever let us see you again!" A voice yelled behind us. The gold vanished from Frank's eyes, the pupils returning to their normal brown. I turned to see Piper breathing heavily, her gag in Leo's hands.
"Yuck." Leo dropped the piece of cloth in disgust, slobber wetly slapping the ground. "That eidolon drools a lot."
"Two monster attacks in one day," Reyna commented. "Monsters seem to be finding us quickly. Do you think there'll be more attacks?" She asked. I looked down at my pudding, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. I hoped the attacks were a coincidence. I waved my wand over my dessert and it turned blue. I smiled. That was a little bit better. More like home. I scooped up a huge portion of the bright blue pudding and shoved it into my mouth.
"There might be. Hecate said there was a weak barrier around the school; ineffective against monsters. Besides, we're ten demigods and a Titaness; we probably really smell." Hazel answered. Leo lifted his arm and sniffed his armpit.
"Whew," he waved his hand in front of his nose, "you're right, I do stink." he joked. Calypso swatted his arm.
"Yes, so you better have a bath after this." Calypso took advantage of Leo's comment.
"I was joking!" He complained, but Calypso gave him the 'look.' Leo groaned and murmured assent.
Suddenly, splinters and chunks of wood and brick rained down. Hazel barely dodged a huge slab. We looked up and groaned simultaneously. There, in all their glory, were arai. The three flew down, their feet clumping down heavily.
"Why are you here?" Reyna demanded.
"Why," the middle one laughed, "to kill you of course!" He lunged at Thalia, who nocked her bow as fast as lightning (no pun intended) and shot it down.
"You'll have to get on a waiting list for that," Thalia smirked. However, she immediately bent over and convulsed.
"Thalia?" Piper rushed to her side. The rest of the students in the Great Hall had overcome their shock and were shooting spells in a frenzy at the remaining two arai; however, the spells bounced off fruitlessly and the monsters laughed.
"You have chosen the curse of the leucrotae... very well chosen. Greek fire shall be your demise. It will burn you slowly, painfully..." The monster cackled evilly. "From the inside. Just like you burned them."
"Leucrotae can't speak!" Thalia retaliated, then gasped and clutched her stomach again. "Must have spoken through Hal..." Her eyes filled with tears. Tears of pain or sadness, I wasn't sure. The arai on the left lunged at me. I sidestepped quickly and stabbed it in the stomach. Then I looked down at the golden dust, horrified. This time, my reflexes may have compromised my life.
"Curse of Antaeus!" The leathery old hag crowed triumphantly. A small hole just above my hip opened, a stream of blood pouring out and pooling on the ground. A heavy sense of dread settled in my chest."May you bleed out slowly, with nothing to cease the flow of blood or heal the wound!" It grinned wickedly. "Just like you did to him."
My sword arm grew tired. My body ached, and my vision blurred. Annabeth ignored the arai and rushed over. She placed her hand on the wound and added pressure. But the hole grew larger and kept bleeding. She removed her hand, horrified. She was only making it worse.
"Antaeus." She whispered in terrified realization. "You hung him from chains in the rafters, had him slowly bleed out... and the Earth couldn't help him." She remembered the giant in the Labyrinth. I nodded weakly.
"No." She croaked. "No! You're not leaving me now, Seaweed Brain. Look me in the eye. You are not dying on me." She commanded. A scream from behind didn't distract her gaze, but I looked over. Hazel had sunk to her knees, her cavalry sword caked with monster dust.
"Curse of Pasiphae..." She rasped. Then her eyes grew wide. She stumbled to her feet and held up her spatha. Her eyes flashed back and forth. She seemed to half-lunge then stop, and then lunge again but hold back. "Arai?" She squinted. The word sounded more like a question. Then she went into battle position but didn't hold back.
She stabbed at a spot next to Frank, who stumbled back, startled. "Frank..." her eyes darted side to side. "Piper?" I didn't know what was going on, but Reyna moved sideways and blocked my view. Annabeth grabbed my chin and redirected my gaze so that I was looking her straight in the eyes.
"Hold on." She said. "Focus." Her grip held me steady, but my life was gushing out of my body and onto the floor. Just then, the famous, spoiled, and insanely arrogant Harry Potter decided to walk over.
"What is happening?" He asked, hands on his hips. Annabeth snapped. She whirled to face him.
"Percy is dying right here! Thalia is being burned from the inside! And you..." she trembled with rage, "have the audacity to come over here and ask what is happening? Act like you're the hero who deserves everything? You are a spoiled idiot!" Her voice rose to a yell. The echo resounded around the hall.
But Annabeth didn't have time to watch their reactions or respond to the questions. She turned back to me, shaking. Her hands wavered and her eyes stared at the hole in my side. She had no idea what to do. Then she frantically started rummaging in her pocket and found a piece of ambrosia.
She shoved it into my mouth. I tried to chew and swallow, but almost choked in the process. I managed to push it down my throat, but the medicine had no effect. My mouth burned worse than when I had swallowed the firewater of the Phlegethon. I shuddered and retched. It felt like a flaming, slimy worm was working its way down my esophagus. My head felt like it had been spinning in circles for hours. Tears began to collect in Annabeth's eyes; but that was all I saw before I blacked out.
(Eheheh. Don't worry, I'm not killing them off. I still need them for the rest of the story. Maybe later!
JK JK JK DO NOT TAKE THAT SERIOUSLY. I'm not going to kill anyone (unless the plot requires me to, but it'd come later and I'd only kill one of them and hate myself for it).